Unpopular opinion: topping a mature oak in one shot did way more harm than good on my property in Dayton
Everyone in my local group swears by hard topping to force new growth, so I tried it on a 60 year old oak out back in March and by August two limbs dropped on the fence. A certified arborist in Dayton quoted $1,800 to clean up the mess and told me the tree went into shock. Has anyone here actually had good luck with staged reduction cuts instead?